Field
The present disclosure relates to devices, systems, and methods for crimping a medical device. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to devices, systems, and methods for reducing the diameter of a collapsible heart valve prosthesis to be loaded onto a delivery device.
Background
Minimally invasive approaches have been developed to facilitate catheter-based implantation of valve prostheses in a beating heart, intending to obviate the need for the use of classical sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass. An expandable prosthetic valve can be compressed about a catheter, inserted inside a lumen within the body, such as the femoral artery, and delivered to a desired location in the heart.
Heart valve prostheses used in these procedures can have a self-expanding multi-level frame that supports a valve body having a plurality of leaflets. The frame can be contracted during percutaneous transluminal delivery and expanded upon deployment within the native heart valve.
In order to compress the frame of the valve prosthesis, crimping techniques can be employed to transition the prosthesis from its natural expanded state to a compressed state. The compressed prosthesis can then be loaded onto or into a delivery device.